Fisherman’s Wharf Fishing Report October 28th, 2004

Heavy surf and Northeast winds have dominated our area since last Wednesday. There is an old saying be careful what you wish for… well after a solid three weeks plus of fishing every day we finally got our late season break. All trips were cancelled and the boats were tied to the docks from last Wednesday until Sunday morning when we finally made a fresh attempt to brave the heavy ground swells.

We have been out daily since Sunday the 24th and slowly but surely the fishing has been getting better. Sunday’s trip saw heavy swells and very little fish biting action. It was hard just to lose a piece of bait. Top hook on Sunday may have had a dozen fish and it went quickly downhill from there. Some had none.

Monday was more of the same with some of the bigger swells still approaching the 10 to 12 foot range. Late in the day on Monday we had our first sign of biting fish again, and some folks actually ended up with a real nice cooler full of fish. There were gaps in the action though some unlucky anglers only walked away with a handful of keeper sized fish. It was a good sign however to see these good numbers of throwbacks coming in over the rails once again. We know the fish are still around they are just not always biting.

Tuesday morning’s action started out much better than the production that we had encountered over the last couple of mornings. Even though there were still some long period swells approaching 10 feet this was the best looking ocean we had seen since the blow. By midday on Tuesday, the action once again had slowed to nothing, apparently due to big swells and the hard outgoing tides. Finally late in the day (on a spot that just two days prior we had seen only 3 Bass and a bunch of Eels) we had the best fish catching action we have had since the storm. While there was still a lot of room for improvement it was almost like things were getting close to normal again.

Wednesday’s action started out spotty with some wrecks producing next to nothing, or only a portion of the boat catching a few keeper fish. Once again late in the day we were able to stay over a wreck long enough for just about everyone to fill up their cooler with some good sized Bass! Still nothing like the fish catching action of just a couple of weeks ago but a real glimmer of hope! Some folks actually landed a limit. This was the by far the best day we had since our little break.

The deck has no doubt been shuffled. We have had more wind and sea over the past few weeks than our area has seen in a long time. We even caught a few Croakers and Trout on some of the wrecks in the past few days. We haven’t been seeing any of these round fish on structure in several weeks. The way the Sea Bass were biting though they were a welcome sight.

As we ride around the various structures we can see that the bait and the fish are at times as much as several fathoms up off of the bottom. The waters are still churned up after the storm and some areas have very dirty water. Until we have a change in wind direction this condition will likely continue. There are certain times the fish settle to the bottom and this is when we seem to do our best. Other times we drop back over the wrecks and can hardly get bites.

This fall wreck fishing is far from over gang. Water temperatures are right where they should be for this time of the year and there are still more fish on the inshore wrecks than there are on the offshore pieces. This should assure that during the month of November we will continue to see some of the best action of the year with the Sea Bass. As these fish begin to move offshore they will be gathering on the structures in the 100ft to 150ft depths as usual. At this time there are very few fish in these depths, which tells us the best may be yet to come.

We will continue with our Fall fishing schedule well into December with Wreck trips sailing on, Friday’s, Saturday’s and Sunday’s and Monday’s departing at 7:00 am. We will also have a boat fishing for Stripers every day at 8:00 am. These trips will continue until the middle of December or until the weather and the fish allow.

If you would like more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to make a reservation for one of our special trips please check out our website or give us a call at (302)645-TUNA. .

Until Next Week Happy Fishing! .


Until next time Happy Fishing!
Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
fishing@fishlewes.com
Keen Lady IV